The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is taking up month-long programmes throughout Ramadan to boost up its leaders and activists, who are tired of caseloads against them and have been released from prison in recent times.

The party will mainly organise iftar mahfils (party) throughout the month at different levels from centre to union level as part of this. The BNP leaders say the main goal is to enhance contacts with the leaders and activists at grassroots to keep them active.

Several reliable BNP leaders have said countless leaders and activists, including the party secretary general, were imprisoned ahead of the national polls held on 7 January. They are being gradually released from the prison now. However, most of them are in despair after their long anti-government movement went into vain. At the same time, the party doesn’t have that much activity at the field level right now either.

In this context, BNP wants to increase interaction among the party activists who were active in the anti-government movement and are out of the prison now through organising iftar mahfils across the country. At the same time the party has decided to help the destitute with iftar and food as much they can throughout Ramadan. The party also aims to contact people who refrained from casting votes on 7 January.

Sources at the top level of BNP say there the acting chairman of the party discussed the possible party activities in Ramadan during a virtual meeting with the divisional organising secretaries and assistant organising secretaries on 29 February. BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also joined the meeting.

The leaders also proposed programmes in protest of the rise in the prices of daily commodities and electricity. As part of that, the BNP is holding a mass campaign across the country on Saturday in protest of the abnormal increase in prices of all products including electricity, gas and fuel.

BNP divisional organising secretary in Mymensingh, Imran Saleh Prince said BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman has instructed to avoid lavish iftar mahfils in the current context. Instead he ordered to help the hapless and the poor with more food and iftar.

According to several sources in the BNP, the central BNP is likely to organise several iftar mahfils. They have a plan to hold separate iftar parties in honour of professionals, diplomats, leaders of other political parties and the orphans. The party wants to ensure maximum people in these programmes.

Apart from that, all the thana units in the capital will organise iftar mahfil. The BNP’s associated bodies, including Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, Chhatra Dal and Swechchhasebak Dal, will also hold iftar programmes centrally.

The BNP has been staging an anti-government movement demanding elections under a non-partisan government for the last few years. Last year, they embarked upon a one-point movement to dismantle the government and boycotted the 12th national polls held on 7 January.

However, the ruling Awami League has successfully come to power for the fourth consecutive term paying no heed to BNP’s movement which led to disappointment among the party activists.

However, BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said, “Our activists are still strong morally as they are aware of the fact that 95 per cent of the people of the country responded to our call. Those who grabbed the power did it in a non-political way. From a political context, it is the BNP who won.”

The BNP leaders alleged that the government laid out a mass arrest drive against their leaders and activists across the country to ensure a one-sided election. The mass arrest drive started following the violence that erupted circling the BNP’s grand rally on 28 October, which was ultimately thwarted.

As per the figures of central BNP, as many as 27,514 leaders and activists of the party were arrested ahead of the polls. Of them, 28 died in police custody and 9,704 sustained injuries. They started getting released from prison after the national polls.

However, the government refuted these figures presented by the BNP. Relevant ministers said repeatedly that around 12,000 people were arrested before the polls at most.

The BNP sources are saying apart from the recently released activists and leaders, those who were active in the simultaneous movement to repel the government have also become somewhat disheartened. Many of the central BNP leaders are concerned over this. Therefore, the BNP leaders at policymaking level are stressing organising iftar mahfils, discussions and a reception for the released party activists to invigorate them.